Timberwolves 2013-2014

[ozzie]

Miller being Mike? No Thanks!!!! That might be reason alone to not watch the Wolves and I love watching the Wolves!! After the couple years he was here with us I sure don't want him back!!!! I mean really we brought him in to shoot and score and what does he do pass and rebound...not bad things but those aren't what we were paying him for and needed him to shoot more. I heard this trade rumor last night and it was Allen and Prince for JJ and Chase. I haven't followed how Allen has been the last year or 2 but Prince is another defensive guy and we have 2 players that are D specialists in Brewer and Luc...this trade has 0 in the excitement catagory but a 100 in the no mike miller catagory!!!

[Scott K]

Andre Miller from Denver

Quote:

The Timberwolves are reportedly interested in Andre Miller, according to ESPN.com.

The interest is contingent on J.J. Barea getting shipped at the deadline. The Wolves have been reportedly been trying to deal Barea since all the way back to the summer, so it's still a bit unlikely they can get anything done.

[Scott K]

Quote:

The Grizzlies are discussing a deal with the Timberwolves centered around Chase Budinger and J.J. Barea.

The Grizzlies would like to include Tayshaun Prince and may also include Tony Allen. The Grizzlies have been wanting to add some perimeter shooting and Prince isn't really needed much more for defense with the emergence of James Johnson. None of these players would see much more playing time than they're currently receiving, so there's little reason to pick them up.

[rundrave]

Trade for Nate Wolters!

He's riding the pine on a terrible Bucks team but puts up good numbers when he plays. When the guards over there were hurt he actually did really well.

Naters gonna Nate!

Not too late to hop on the Wolters band wagon Great numbers last night and a big go ahead 3 late in the fourth.

[Scott K]

Quote:

A potential trade sending Tony Allen and Tayshaun Prince to the Timberwolves has "gained momentum," according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports.

The basic elements of a proposed Wolves/Grizzlies trade has now been reported by multiple sources. If such a deal goes through it might involve Chase Budinger and J.J. Barea going to Memphis, where the solid play of Courtney Lee and James Johnson have made the idea of losing Allen more palatable.

[Scott K]

Quote:

Ricky Rubio worked in L.A. with a shooting coach during the All-Star break.

Wolves coach Rick Adelman and team president Flip Saunders have both encouraged Rubio to look for his shot more aggressively, despite Rubio's 36.1 percent FG shooting. "[if] he becomes a pretty good shooter, he is going to become an elite point guard because of the other stuff he does," Saunders said, alluding to Rubio's 8.3 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

[Scott K]

A nice win tonight against a good team. Lets keep it up on the road trip now.

[EBass]

What happened in the 2nd half of the Blazers game? Cripes!

[Scott K]

They went back to looking like they did for the first half of the year. Cant close a game out, even with a big lead. They eed to play a little defense.

[ozzie]

the refs let the blazers get really aggresive without calling the game the right way and the wolves just didn't respond...that and the blazers started shooting the lights out of the gym!!!

[schmitty3]

They give up so many baskets due to lazy defense it's ridiculous. Absolutely no transition defense and it all starts with K Love just standing under his own basket after he thinks he gets fouled but doesn't get the call. I want to see Adelman get in to these guys when they don't hussle back, cause they are giving up easy points in quick time spurts and those big leads they build go right away fast.

[Scott K]

Love even when he gets back for defense, he doesnt defend, he just places himself for the rebound. There is a reason he gets so many rebounds.

Martin is worse, he doesnt even try to do anything on defense. He may as well stay under his own basket.

[schmitty3]

Agreed on Martin. I actually think they have been playing better without him. Not only does he not play a lick of D, the ball get stagnant at times when he is in the game. Most of his offense is 1 on 1, and that just stops all the flow of the offense.

BTW Shabazz had 20 tonight

[Scott K]

It was nice to see them comeback and win one. 3 out of 4 after the break, not bad. If they can keep this up, they may sneak in the playoffs, but I wouldnt count on it.

[EBass]

The rookie came to play last night. Good win - now get 20 more

[ozzie]

There is no reason we dont keep playing shabazz. He plays hard and isnt intimadated n we have lost the season at this point n if he can be productive n help win when we get pek back we r that much stronger under the basket. That also alows us to keep Martin on the bench!!!

[Scott K]

I think Martin would be an ideal scorer off the bench, but Adelman likes him to much to put him there.

Baz hasnt really earned starting time on a competing team, but at this point, we are barely a competing team. We still have hope, and we have a streak going, and it is down to 5 games out of the playoffs right now, plus we have a favoring schedule for the remainder of the season, so I wont rule us out yet. I was really hoping for a quality PG to come into the second half of the season, Rubio isnt ready to be a starter, and JJ isnt ready to start either. Rubio I think would excel on the second unit, with say Martin, Turiaf, Baz/Brewer, and Cunninham.

JJ, while he can be a volume scorer, is to much of a ball stopper, and he likes to dribble to much in the paint.

The main issue is our starters dont care to play any defense. When you have Pek, Love, and Martin on the floor at the same time, nobody try to stop, or guard any shots.

As much as I like Pek, and Love, our team is just terrible on defense when they are both on the floor together. Then adding Martin in with that, really makes us a siv on that end of the floor.

[ozzie]

Pek is a stud and should be a starter but when a full healthy squad I think a line-up of Love/Rubio/Brewer/Budingger/Turiaf and a Second unit of JJ/Martin/Cunningham/shab/Pek. This way you have a little D in your lineup with Brew and Turiaf with scoring Love and bud and brewer and the second unit has scoring with strength with Pek/Shabazz against second unit players...

[Scott K]

To be honest, Adelman should stage the line ups more, rather then complete squad changes. Try to keep 3 starters on the floor at all times, and alternate them. Then you may not have the high scoring 35 point games in the first, and 15 point games in the fourth. Start swapping starters out every 5 minutes of the game. Keep them fresh, and keep the weak links from playing so many minutes together. Pek and Love really play about the same game, hard under the basket, with Love able to make outside shots, ad Pek to bang underneath. But when you have both in there, they are takig away each others strengths, and they both suck at defense.

I dont think Pek would be to happy with playing the second unit, being he is, has, and deserves to be a starter. Just not alongside Love for so many minutes.

[schmitty3]

Well if they're gonna make a push for the playoffs it's gotta be now. 8 straight games against teams under .500, and they got it started off good with a win tonight. Good to see Pek and Martin come back strong tonight.

[ozzie]

they play the Raptors in this stretch and I think they are the only team above .500. I think the combined winning percentage they had on the TV over the next 7-8 games was .387. Let's hope they run off a long streak here and posistion themselves into the playoff mix

[Scott K]

I think like every other year, we will be shy of making the playoffs. This year it will be by just a couple games, which then puts us in the worst scenario of all. We miss the playoffs again, we will lose our first round pick, because it is only protected to 13, next year we will be hurting because of salary cap, and long signed contracts. We will basically be stuck with the same team as this year, but everyone a year older, and very little defense played by any of them. I predict 40 wins this year, and back to 35 next year.

[PierBridge]

Are you kidding me we were up 22 ? Its a three point game with 11 seconds. 2 lpoint 6 left

[PierBridge]

Wolves win it took all hundred thirty two points to do it though lol

[Scott K]

I only had a chance to watch a few minutes of the game, I checked on the score a few times, and then when I saw the final score, I thought, wow, they squeaked it out. It doesnt surprise me at all. We dont have anyone to play defense. Rick would be better off playing all defense after the 3rd quarter, and leaving Love, Pek, and Martin out of the games.